“Compound?”
“Oh, did I say that out loud?” Tommie just laughed awkwardly and then averted his eyes, not answering her question.
“Let me know when the Gnome-inator is done!” Anthony said.
“Of course! You gave me so many great ideas!” Tommie had a wide, almost crazed smile as he patted the burlap sack filled with parts and components that Aila, even with all of her studying, didn’t know what they could possibly create.
“Come on then!” Anthony let out a really high-pitched squeaking whistle. “Really isn’t the same without lips.”
Those in the nearby fields were looking over at them as they walked out of the tree line.
Anthony waved to them in greeting.
Aila, with her Far Sight, was able to see the panic on their faces when they saw the trio and they started to leave the fields.
A group of armored beast men stepped out from between the fields and headed directly for them.
“I don’t have a good feeling about this,” Aila said in a singsong voice.
“I’m really close to the beast men. I had some really close beast men friends!” Anthony said.
Aila didn’t feel any more confident with his words.
They continued forward and more patrols appeared. There was a group of beast men soldiers on the walls of the city as the farmers all moved back.
“Who fights today!” Anthony said when the group was in earshot.
The beast men all leveled their weapons with the group.
“Get off your beast and put down your weapons!” the leader yelled out.
“That went well,” Aila said.
“I’m pretty sure that is the general greeting,” Anthony said.
“Stop talking!” The leader gestured with his spear, as the tribal tattoos across his body started to surge with power. The other beast men also readied themselves for a fight.
“We’re just passing through. We don’t want any trouble.” Anthony kept his hands up and visible.
“A human comes into beast man territory and they don’t want trouble.” One of the guards let out a snort and pawed the ground.
Guess he’s got a rather lot of warthog heritage, Aila thought, looking at him.
“All humans have to be questioned and identified,” the guard captain said. His eyes turned to Tommie and Aila.
“Okay, very well,” Anthony said. He slowly got down from Ramona.
“Thank you for letting me borrow your mount,” Anthony said, looking at Aila.
“No problem,” Aila said.
What does he mean by that? She looked relaxed on the outside but inside felt he was plotting something.
The guards grabbed Anthony, putting manacles on his wrists and taking away his sword and scabbard. They removed his cloak, revealing his armor.
“A knight.” The leader scoffed and turned his eyes to Tommie and Aila again.
“Get registered at the town gates.” With that, he turned with the rest of the patrol and headed for the city, roughly dragging and pushing Anthony ahead of them.
“You’ll scuff the armor!” Anthony complained.
They only started to do it more.
Why is he letting them push him around? Aila had an understanding of his strength and there was no way that those manacles or those beast men were stronger than Anthony.
“What do we do now?” Tommie asked, still looking scared from it all.
“I guess we get registered. Trust me, Anthony isn’t in danger,” Aila said.
Tommie took a few moments. “He’s the strongest person I’ve ever met.” Tommie nodded as he coaxed his mount forward.
“Come on, Ramona,” Aila said.
The big beast looked at Aila with a pitiful look.
“He’ll be fine,” Aila said.
Ramona seemed to give in, lowering her head and following them.
***
Captain Etheras put down his report and pulled the glasses off his snout. “You captured a human who was travelling with a gnome and a dark elf, and you have been questioning him, but you haven’t been able to take his armor. So you can’t use the Eyes of Truth on him?” he asked Lieutenant Ralo.
“Yes, Captain.” Ralo’s ears tucked down and his tail didn’t move under the captain’s gaze.
Etheras was from the wolf clans and they had some links to the coyotes.
“What has he said?” Etheras asked.
“He said that he is only passing through. He is travelling to Ilsal,” Ralo reported faithfully, relieved to have something that would put him in a good light and show he was at least trying to do his job.
“Does he have papers saying that he is an Ilsal citizen?”
“No.”
“His weapons and armor?”
“He says that he won’t take them off—he doesn’t want to freak people out.” Ralo frowned before he cleared his throat. “The armor is specially made. We haven’t been able to pull it off, or even open the helmet so we can use the Eyes of Truth on him. I think that it might even be some kind of artifact. It has this tree on the back and it glows and moves. His sword we can’t pull out of the scabbard but I got one of the smiths to examine it. He says he’s never seen anything like it. He thinks that it is made from ores only found in the heart of dwarven lands. He even keeps on saying that he’s saying the truth.”
“What is the rule?”
“Never trust someone who has not been checked with the Eyes of Truth.” Ralo stood straight and answered rapidly, the words burned into his mind.
Etheras tapped his glasses on the desk before he put them down. “Let’s see just what he wants.” He stood up.
“Sir?” Ralo asked.
“I have nothing but boring reports waiting for me, and it is not every day that we have a human on this side of the border,” Etheras said, already walking for the door. “Are you coming?”
“Yes sir!” Ralo stumbled into action and followed him out across the training ground and into the heavy stone buildings that made up the city’s jail.
No human would be able to break out of here. They’re made to withstand even someone from the ox clan trying to break out.
Etheras wandered down into the depths of the jail, where he heard screeching and scratching.
“Ahhh!”
“Nooo!”
“What are you doing!” a man yelled.
But Etheras’s ears perked up.
“Is he...laughing?” Etheras picked up the pace. He saw a man on a rack with three guards trying to lever off his armor as he laughed and bucked, clearly acting as if he were being tickled by them.
Etheras let out a growl.
The guards stopped what they were doing and looked at Etheras, saluting him awkwardly. One of them dropped their tool on their foot, wincing as they saluted while one eyebrow fluctuated wildly.
“At ease.” Etheras moved in front of the man, who was starting to get himself back under control.
“Oh, sorry about the noise. Just, they wouldn’t stop, you know,” the man said, taking a few breaths.
“Who are you?” Etheras asked.
“Anthony. And you are?”
“Guard Captain Etheras. We need you to answer a few questions,” Etheras said.
“Sure!”
“We need you to answer them while under the effect of the Eyes of Truth,” Etheras said.
“Can you just put it up against my helmet and we do it that way?” Anthony asked.
“We need to make sure you’re not using some kind of means to stop the spell from working.”
“I would if I could, but I think you might get a bit freaked out,” Anthony said.
“Freaked out.” Etheras repeated the words, clearly not amused. “Look, I’m nearly eighty years old, so I’ve been fighting ever since the slaver wars.”
“Slaver wars?” Anthony asked.
“Humans forget so soon,” Ralo said.
Etheras glanced at him, making Ralo stand straight and close his mouth.
“When the humans started slaving the beast men and other races en masse, treating us as lower species, and an emperor used them to build his power as he pushed into our lands. How they created the slaver collars that had been banned for generations,” Etheras said.
“To use slaver collars on other races...” Anthony shook his head. “I can do your Eyes of Truth, but it would just be us and one other in the room, and what you see would have to be sworn to secrecy,” Anthony said.
Etheras felt like this human was between a rock and a hard place.
“The rest of you leave us. Ralo, lock the door behind them,” Etheras said. This human is interesting. If he tries to escape, Ralo might be skittish but even he can fight against five humans and still win as long as they don’t call on their familiars.
The guards left the room. The one who had dropped the tool on his foot tried to hide the hobble before the door closed and locked behind them.
Anthony stepped out of the rack with a series of snapping noises, breaking the manacles that were holding him, and waved his arm that still had a manacle stuck on it.
Etheras and Ralo pulled out their weapons as they looked at the skeleton head.
The manacle came apart and embedded itself into the wall as Anthony grabbed his helmet and pulled it off.
“Hey, that hurts. I know I won’t win any beauty contests but I’m not that bad-looking. I had plenty of girls who liked me when I was younger!” Anthony held his helmet under his arm. As the other two backed away, he moved to the table where the Eyes of Truth was and sat down, putting his helmet down.
“Still think you’re older than me, Etheras?” Anthony chuckled as Etheras coughed. “Oh come on, if I wanted to, I could have broken out of those handcuffs at any time. Now you’re all scared seeing an undead wandering around?” The light orbs in Anthony’s eyes rolled around before he sighed.
Ralo and Etheras felt awkward and they didn’t know what to do.
Anthony looked into the Eyes of Truth. “My name is Anthony. I do not wish anyone harm, but if I am attacked or I see injustice then I will assist and kill if needed. I abide by the Guardian’s code and I am heading to Ilsal.”
Etheras saw that everything that Anthony said was truthful.
“Now I have a few questions for you both.” Anthony turned his eyes on them.
Etheras’s sword blade twitched. Ralo raised his completely and tugged on the door.
The shadows moved, turning into a mask that had a gloating smile.
Ralo let out a yelping noise, falling on his animal instincts.
“Solomon, stop being a dick.” Anthony frowned at the demon face that pouted and faded back into the door.
The doors, the windows—all of it is blocked by that familiar. What kind of familiar is it? A named familiar? Those are the kinds that only the legion commanders of the human armies have.
“So, tell me, how did this start? The fighting between the beast kin and the humans?” Anthony sat back in his chair. “Starting from the war.”
“Which war?” Etheras asked, trying to buy himself time as he thought of ways to get out.
“The war,” Anthony said.
“The war when the races were supposed to have united against a common enemy, that folklore?” Ralo said, panicking.
“Yes, that war,” Anthony said.
Etheras’s heart jumped. Was he part of that war? Was he on their side? On our side?
“The races were peaceful. The elves continued to be secretive; the dwarves went to their mountains. Gnomes wandered the lands as the goblins moved from place to place as hunting patterns dictated. The humans and the beast kin settled down, reclaimed lands, grew in population. Then the humans started to make trade policies and treaties with different beast kin groups, bribing officials and using other means to get the beast kin to unknowingly sell out their own people.
“A trader who had connections to powerful families used those agreements to gain power. He worked with his fellow traders and his countrymen, as well as their church, and took over control of the lands to the west, controlling the trades there.
“He stopped hiding his own greed and his desire to turn beast kin and other races into his slaves. The beast kin rallied together and created a border. We didn’t know who was part of his group or not, so we evicted them all and gathered our strength. They sent our own people wearing slave collars at us. Those that they captured, they turned into meat shields. We had to kill people from our own clans under the effect of the slave collars. By that time, he had created a proper military and named himself as emperor, advancing his army to the cities along the border, raiding to kidnap our people and sell them in his markets. Killed people in the street; said that they were devil worshippers. Created devil hunters, part of the church to search out and destroy evil, kill beast kin and those who care about them. Even kill people accidentally, because someone blames them for an unfounded crime. Human justice for their job, to cleanse and purify the land.”
“What did the beast kin do?”
“We called the clans once again. We created a border and made sure our people were safe. The human emperor and his Church of Light are an infection, one that can only be cut out. The cost would be too high, so we build our strength and wait.”
Anthony shook his head and pulled his helmet back on. “It seems that Guardians are in great demand. Once I’ve finished in Ilsal, I’ll have to return to have a talk with this human emperor.” Anthony stood and raised his hand.
There was a whistling noise and then a crunch as the blade came through a wall.
“Whoops, sorry about the wall.” Anthony shook the scabbard, clearing it of dust. He affixed it to his belt.
“Okay, so to protect my identity and current predicament, I’ll need the two of you to swear an oath where you promise not to tell anyone about me being all bony and stuff. Also that you won’t let anyone know what you’ve told me. To everyone else, this was just a routine questioning. Do you have any more questions you want me to clarify?” Anthony asked.
Etheras felt as though nothing were under his control ever since the other guards had left. “Do you intend to harm us or our families or people we care about?” Etheras asked.
Anthony pulled off his helmet and looked into the Eyes of Truth. “I promise that I do not intend either of you harm, or your families.” Once again, his words rang true.
Etheras relaxed a bit more. He answered all of our questions and although he had some of his own, he really doesn’t intend us harm. No one can lie when looking into the Eyes of Truth device. He hasn’t used any spells or any secret arts.
Etheras put his sword away.
“Captain?” Ralo said in a high-pitched voice.
“Put the blade away and swear the oath,” Etheras said. “If he wanted to, he could have killed us long ago.”
“Not that I want to!” Anthony waved his finger at them. “Why is it because you’re strong, people always think you want to go and destroy everything! I was perfectly happy being a gardener, but no! I had to go and be a Guardian! Well, it was to impress a girl, but that’s not the point!”
Seeing Anthony flustered, Etheras’s last apprehension fell away.
“I will not reveal the contents of our chat here, your abilities, or the fact that you’re undead as long as you do nothing malicious,” Etheras said.
“Fair,” Anthony said.
Power congealed around Etheras. A piece of power winked into his body. He felt it enter his soul, binding him.
Etheras looked at Anthony. “What is this?”
“A soul binding oath. I’ve had plenty of people make an oath and then as soon as I let them go, then they turn on me. Don’t worry—if you look at it closely, you’ll see that my oath is involved in it as well. Guardian’s oath, so pretty much covers everything,” Anthony said.
Etheras studied the bond on his soul. He could feel it linking them together, a pact between the two of them.
Etheras looked at Ralo.
Ralo shakil
y lowered his sword. “I swear the same oath as Captain Etheras.”
The power within the room distorted and Etheras could feel a new oath was created.
“Right, now, my next question: have there been any issues in the area? It is my job to keep the peace, help out and all of that,” Anthony asked.
“Everything is good. I heard that there was a problem in the city Fissat,” Etheras said.
“Hmm, okay. I’ll take a look at it. Will I need papers or something?” Anthony asked.
“Uh, yes.” Etheras pulled out a few documents, putting down Anthony’s name; then he signed off on it before he used his seal on it and passed it to Anthony. He didn’t feel tense or threatened by him, even though the beast part of his brain was screaming out in danger.
“Thanks! Hope you have a good day.” Anthony tapped the papers to his helmet as he walked to the doors. The shadows were sucked into his armor before he opened the doors.
“’Scuse me, sorry, coming through!” Anthony said, holding up his papers, as the guards moved forward.
“Let him past!” Etheras growled.
The beast kin moved out of the way, shooting questioning looks at Etheras and the pale Ralo.
“Now what?” Ralo asked.
“Keep your oath, or else you’ll die,” Etheras said in a low voice.
Ralo shivered and closed his mouth.
***
Aila looked up as Ramona lifted her head and looked in a direction, looking happy as she turned her head to Aila.
Tommie was at a stall, bartering with the sheep beast kin.
“One silver and fourteen coppers, best I can do,” the sheep kin said.
“Ah, fine deal!” Tommie reached into his bag and pulled out the money.
The sheep kin took it and quickly gave Tommie a bottle of brown sludge. “Good doing business with you,” the sheep kin said.
“Have a good day!” Tommie stored the sludge away.
“Ramona’s all perked up. Looks like she wants to go somewhere,” Aila said.
“I didn’t hear any fighting,” Tommie said.
“Probably best we go and check out whatever has her all interested.”
“Okay.” Tommie held out a snack for his mount, who wolfed it down happily.
Tommie got on his back, patting him. “Who’s a good boy,” Tommie said.
Death Knight Box Set Page 14