“Not sure, for the most part. How are the dwarves?” the man asked.
“We forge and we prepare,” Raldras said.
“Prepare for what?” Anthony asked.
“For the second coming,” Raldras said, repeating words that had been said for generations.
“Ah, then we really must not have won.” Anthony’s words turned to common before he returned to ancient Dwarvish.
“Good work. Hopefully we don’t need it.” Anthony patted Raldras on the shoulder. “So where do your travels take you?”
“We are heading to the city Sonis to conduct business,” Raldras said.
“Is that on the way?” Anthony yelled back to the dark elf and then turned around. Dave was still staring at her.
“Dave! Go and move the trees blocking the road, please!” Anthony sounded embarrassed he’d forgotten about the two of them.
Dave swam around the dark elf and headed for the tree. He grabbed it with his claws and carried it off with ease.
“Is Sonis on the way?” Anthony asked the dark elf, who looked rather shaken by the whole experience.
“Y-yes. What is that?” She pointed at the dragon.
“Don’t worry. That’s Dave. He’s harmless. Well, maybe not harmless.” Anthony let out a short laugh. “But he’s a good friend. Anyway, Sonis?”
“It’s on the way,” the elf said.
“Dave, get the other trees—don’t want to cut off the road,” Anthony said.
Dave looked almost bored as he casually threw trees to the side that would have taken a team of ten dwarves struggling to move.
“Mind if we hitch a ride with you?” Anthony asked Raldras.
“Uhh...”
“Certainly!” Krosem looked to Raldras. “It seems the pass has become more dangerous. It would be good to have some help.”
He might seem crazy as hell, but he has flair. Krosem grinned, feeling that it might not be so bad to befriend this dancing knight.
“Thanks! Dave!”
Dave moved back toward Anthony, swimming around his back and becoming thinner before he passed through Anthony’s armor, spiraling around his arm all the way to his hand before the glow died down.
Several of the dwarves had been hit; only two were in bad condition. With their short stature, it made them harder to hit and Anthony had showed up before their caravan had been overrun. If it had been a few minutes later, then it might be another story.
With the battlefield now safe, they quickly healed up and reloaded their weapons as a few skirmishing dwarves checked the bodies that were left behind.
Krosem was cleaning his blunderbuss when there was a voice from inside the carriage he was leaning against.
“That dark elf, her markings on her ears and her earrings—those mark someone as elven royalty,” Raelynn, the real leader of the group and the daughter of his sworn lord, said.
Krosem looked over to the dark elf, who was helping with the wounded. Her ability with healing poultices and her own healing items were much better than what the dwarves had available.
“What is she doing with Anthony then?” Krosem asked.
“I only heard that there was a group of dark elves in the northern reaches of the Stoha Mountains.”
“Far away from home.” Krosem loaded a shell into his blunderbuss and kicked the foregrip forward. “Unless we want them to ask questions, it might be better if we didn’t ask our own.”
He looked over to the children and people from the real caravan. There were a few dwarven guards among them, but to cover up everything, they had tagged along with a group of traders heading to Sonis anyway.
I hope that we weren’t the ones being targeted. They’re good people and if we’re the reason they’re getting attacked, that would be unfortunate.
He slapped his side-loading magazine into the blunderbuss. “We have three more days until we reach Sonis. There’s plenty of time for something to go wrong.”
***
Aila looked ahead to Anthony, who was talking to the driver. The two of them laughed at something.
She pulled up her cloak more.
“Still cold? Don’t worry, we should be out of the last of the winter pines and down into the evergreen forests soon. Once we leave the mountains behind, it can get nicer, warm even,” the driver, Krazzack, said with a smile.
He had a bandage on his head and shoulder where he had been hit with a sword, but the younger dwarf, although he showed some signs of pain, was quickly healing. But even now, his hand rested on his four-barrel gun and his eyes looked over the forest with a calculating look.
“It’ll be good to get away from some of this cold.” Aila smiled at Krazzack.
I remember when I got this quest from Mother. I was so excited to be going south, to the warm, sun-touched lands. Seeing the other races. All I’ve done is run into the worst parts. Her eyes fell on Anthony once again. And found even more mysteries.
“Still, all of these open spaces, the birds—it is strange. Nothing like a cave overhead and the fireflies moving around with the heat of the furnaces on one’s skin.” Krazzack sighed.
“Missing home?”
“Ah, well, I’ve always wanted to leave, but now that I’ve left, I want to go home. Don’t get me wrong—I don’t want to go right now, but I thought I would leave and never look back. But now, I just, I don’t know, appreciate it in a different way than I did before?”
“I can understand that.” Aila smiled.
She saw some of the dwarven children jumping about on the caravan. These trader kids moved around without a worry, mimicking the battle that had just happened and worshipping Anthony.
So those markings, they’re familiars. So he’s able to control five familiars? Just who is he? And someone controlling a dragon—there are only a few people in the entire human empire who can do that.
***
When they stopped, Aila and Anthony decided to make their camp a bit away from the others. Anthony didn’t need to eat or sleep, but so as to not freak them out with the fact there wasn’t a human under that armor, but a skeleton, they did their best to hide the truth.
When it was the second night, Aila overheard Anthony talking to the children. He had told them stories of great dwarven warriors the first night to calm them down and send them to sleep, so the second night they demanded more stories and were filled with questions.
“I heard that the Dwarven Legions are made up of the strongest fighters of all the races!”
“They can’t be stronger than Sir Tree Knight!” another said. They’d missed Anthony’s name completely and called him Sir Tree Knight instead. He didn’t seem to mind, almost used to it.
“Well, I’m not a knight or a member of the legions. I’m a Guardian from the Order of the Five. I don’t pay homage to the gods, but it is not unknown that they might bless warriors heading into battle according to their cause. The Order of Five don’t fight for one race, but all of them. We seek peace, but many times that means fighting,” Anthony said with sadness in his voice.
“A Guardian? What is that? Are those like the champions from the different races?” a young dwarven girl asked.
“Something like that.” Anthony patted her head, and she smiled happily at the attention.
“Do not follow others blindly; do not harm others that do not wish you harm. Live a good and happy life, trying to help others along the way. With just these goals, people can live a great life. Warriors of all kinds are powerful and strong. They can wield unimaginable power, but that comes with a cost. Living a life filled with happiness is the ultimate payment you can give me, or any warrior who fights according to those tenets. Magic is not just spells and familiars, or earth, flame, and runescript. What just one person, with the right mindset, can do.” He put his finger against three small dwarves’ chests, one by one. “It can change the world. Small actions pile up bit by bit to create great change. Warriors might change a fight, but you can change the world. Isn’t that something incredible
?”
Aila was moved by his words as she headed back to their camp.
“So what would we need to do?” one kid asked.
Anthony saw an older-looking elf standing in front of him and other Guardians. There wasn’t a crowd, just the Guardians lined up in formation and the old man standing in front of them.
He wore a kind smile on his face, but his movements carried a lethality in them that would scare enemies and reassure friends.
Everyone focused on him.
“Do not follow others blindly; do not harm others who do not wish you harm. Live a good and happy life, trying to help others along the way.” Anthony repeated the same words that the old elf had said, feeling that it was a lifetime ago.
Chapter: Border Crossing!
“Well, this is where we go our separate ways,” Krosem said.
They were standing outside of the border city Usi. It was more fortress than city. It looked over the plains to the south of the Stoha Mountains and was one of a series of cities that lined the border on the beast men side.
If one squinted, they could see the humans also had their own opposing fortresses, the two sides watching one another.
The land in between was like it had been forgotten: grasses grew wildly, covering up the war-torn ground, making them look like chaotic hills instead of open wounds in the ground. Birds flitted overhead but few ever landed as if they, too, could sense that this was a place of death and destruction.
Getting closer to the battle-worn fortresses, one could see the earthen works around them, creating a network that ran between fortresses, creating a fighting line from the north, through the jagged mountains and down into the plains in the south to the vibrant and mysterious Deepwood.
The ground in front of the defenses was barren, cleared with magical attacks so nothing could grow there and the enemy wouldn’t be able to pass easily. People walked the walls and the earth works, scanning that grass sea and staring at those opposing fortresses.
Although Sonis was on their way, they needed to go south but the road from Usi to Sonis curved to the east.
“Do the Ancestors proud,” Anthony said in Dwarvish.
“Try to stay safe,” Aila said in common.
Krosem nodded as he smiled and headed back to the trader caravan. The children were on top of the carriages or hanging out of the windows, waving to Anthony and Aila.
Anthony waved to them until they disappeared.
“To the south!” Anthony said.
“You’re going west.” Aila sighed as she started walking to the south. The beast men watched them from their fortress as they headed south.
“How are you whistling?” Aila asked after a few hours.
“I ’unno. Magic?” Anthony shrugged and then went on whistling.
“What did I do so wrong in my past life to get this punishment?” she asked the sky as they walked.
“Guess they’re not home, or awake. They’re always sleeping or wandering around, doing random things. Really annoying to have a conversation with,” Anthony said.
“What are you talking about?”
“The gods,” Anthony said.
“Like you talked to the gods.” Aila scoffed. “Wait, did you?”
Anthony just kept on whistling.
***
They continued to go south toward the Deepwood until one night they veered to the east.
“Border hopping. Been some time since I did this. Want to go a bit faster?” Anthony asked.
“What do you mean?” Aila forced herself to stay quiet even as she ran full tilt.
“Bit slow, you know. Thought you were elven—don’t you got feet of sprite, to make you faster?”
“Well, show me how you’re so fast.”
Anthony grabbed the back of her shirt and her belt loop, raising her up into the air.
“What are you doing?” She stopped her legs and arms from moving in the air.
Anthony suddenly accelerated. “Dave!” he yelled. Dave appeared in a flash. Anthony jumped and landed on Dave, his balance perfect as he continued to hold Aila above his head.
“You idioooooooooooooot!”
Her scream echoed across the plains as Dave accelerated.
Aila was screaming into the wind, her hair being turned into a tattered mess as Dave shot through the night, a golden blur.
“Annnnnnnnnnnnnnthooooooooo—!”
***
“Getting colder. Winter be coming,” a man said with a grim look on his face as he drank from his flask.
“Do you think the north will hold?”
“Stoha Mountains have been an impossible mountain range for both sides. Only barbarians move freely there,” the first man said.
The second man nodded and pulled up his black cloak against the wind. “What is that?” he said a moment later, seeing a light.
“Just some firefly,” the first man said. “Keep your eyes peeled. There are many things that move between the borders in the warlands.”
The firefly was getting larger, at incredible speed.
“Commander!” The second man stood up as he heard a noise coming from the light. It whipped past faster than he could recognize, crossing between their fortress and the next in a flash of light.
“—oooonnnnnnyyyyyyy!”
The second man looked at the fading streak that quickly disappeared. He didn’t feel any need to fight; instead, he kind of felt sorry for the voice.
He and the other man looked at each other.
The first man took a heavy drink from his flask. “I’m not doing the paperwork.” He cleared his throat and looked back to the border.
The second man coughed and put his sword away. “See all kinds of things on the wall.” He laughed awkwardly.
“Mhmm,” the first man said.
“Isn’t the winter season coming and it’s turning into spring?”
“What month is it again?” the first asked.
***
Dave discovered a town on the border of the Deepwood, Laisa. He quickly took them to a nearby clearing, out of sight of anyone.
Dave turned into a flash of light, once again wrapping around Anthony’s arm as he put down the shell-shocked Aila.
She was on her feet, a blank look on her face. She swayed around as if she had a few too many dwarven beers.
“You okay?” Anthony asked.
Aila muttered something. Her face was plump from being battered by the wind, her regal hair was done up like an eccentric bird’s nest, and her clothes stuck out at odd angles from being forced into new forms.
“Must be some of that Elvish slang,” Anthony said. “All right, Dave said that we should reach the road by walking through these trees, then it is just a short walk to Laisa! Let’s go.” Anthony put his thumbs up.
Aila raised her thumb, a twitchy smile on her face.
“That’s the spirit!” Anthony turned around. Some people are horrible fliers. Dave doesn’t do saddles, though, and I wouldn’t let her go. I only dropped three—or was it four?—people while we were flying. They were okay, except that guy calling himself Lord Hector the Underlord. Though I guess that was on purpose. That guy was twisted.
Anthony paused his thoughts as he heard something hit the ground.
He looked back to see Aila on the ground, her hand still raised in a thumbs-up expression.
“Come on, we have to—is she asleep or unconscious?” He put his finger underneath her nose.
“Crap, undead—can’t feel anything. Well then, umm...” He tried grabbing some grass, but with his gauntlets, he either broke it all off, or he grabbed a handful of dirt.
“Shit! Ahh, I can’t get grass—I can get a leaf!”
He ran at a tree and tried to get a branch. He slammed into it, his armor striking it with a clang. There was a cracking noise as he looked to the side. “Too much force!”
He trudged back from his episode with the tree with a leaf as large as him, made up of fine-looking hairs.
“Wait, w
as that a bear?” someone asked as they approached.
“A bear? What bear sounds like a metal frying pan?” another shot back.
Anthony was focused on the end of the leaf he had put under Aila’s nose, seeing it move faintly with each breath.
“Shii—uh, what?”
***
Katrine was a travelling adventurer. She had just finished a quest in the northern plains when the leader of her adventurer group, Gunnar, heard that there was a number of good jobs to be found in Laisa. So he’d roped Katrine and Sofie into agreeing and they’d headed off.
The night had fallen a few hours ago, but they were so close to Laisa and it was rated as a F-class danger area. Being a D-class adventuring group, they didn’t feel threatened. With just a little bit more walking, they could sleep in a real bed.
They heard a clanging noise come from the forest like metal hitting something.
“The hell was that?” Sofie asked.
“We should investigate!” Gunnar struck a power pose, pushed his shield out and held his sword.
“We should ignore!” Katrine said, with just the same energy and gestures.
“You both look like idiots,” Sofie said with a bored expression.
“It’s probably just a bear,” Katrine reasoned.
“Bears sell for good money,” Gunnar said in a way that seemed like a thought. But they all knew he was actually trying to make his argument.
“I am not getting covered in bear blood,” Sofie said.
“Agreed,” Katrine said.
“Come on. We can get a better hotel room and maybe even a warm bath.” Gunnar pulled off the helmet on his belt and put it on his head as he waggled his eyebrows.
He fortunately, or unfortunately for Sofie and Katrine, knew his audience.
They groaned, but of course Sofie checked her potions and Katrine pulled out her long bow and strung it.
They headed off the road and quickly saw a clearing through the trees and saw a tree that had fallen down.
“Wait, was that a bear?” Gunnar asked as they approached.
Death Knight Box Set Page 4