In the square he had talked about, shadows converged together to form a black Guardian symbol that looked over the square. The eye seemed to look at everyone who passed as they scurried away.
Underneath the eye, words appeared, marking an area for jobs and an area for information.
Anthony dropped from the sky, using Dave’s wings with one burst of strength to arrest his fall. He landed in front of a young member of the rhino clan.
“Ah, look out! Sorry about this.” Anthony punched them in the face.
The “young” rhino was still massive. His eyes rolled back up into his head as he fell backward, making a dull noise.
“Ouch.” Anthony passed them and headed into the store. The little bell rung as he opened the door. “Ah, I do like a cute little doorbell—though, looters, not so much,” Anthony said as several people looked at him, all with sacks in their hands as they stuffed goods into their bags.
“Get him!”
“Time to go to work!” Anthony stretched out his gauntlets as he met the first attacker with a kitchen blade. He grabbed their arm that they’d extended out as if their arm were a spear.
“First knife fight, I’m assuming.” Anthony hit their knee and then punched them in the face, making them see stars.
They cried out in pain, falling on the ground and holding their broken nose as they forgot about the knife that Anthony kicked, sticking into a wall.
Two more came at Anthony. Their bodies were too big in the smaller space, making them crash into each other. Anthony dodged to the side and tripped one, sending them into the other. They went down in a mess of limbs, now trying to make sure that they didn’t accidentally stab each other.
Anthony started to whistle as he administered jabs and kicks to the uninitiated. Against these untrained looters, he just had to use the small shop around him, making it hard for them to move and get away from his attacks. He used the least amount of force to knock them out or leave them with a rather painful, but superficial, wound that hurt them enough to stop fighting.
“Hmm, real Timarea jerky. Ah, I wish I had taste buds still.” Anthony sighed as he held a package. One attacker’s blade went past his head, sticking into the wood of the cupboard. Anthony punched them in the jaw, sending them stumbling back and releasing their blade before he sent a kick right between their legs. The others on the floor in pain all winced as the kangaroo kin looked at Anthony, tilting his head; he went pale and dropped to the floor, letting out a pained groan/breath filled with suffering.
“You can tuck them in but not that far.” Anthony pat the kangaroo’s head and walked past him, wincing even though they couldn’t see his expression.
Right in the cajones! Ugh, sorry, dude!
Anthony cleared his throat as he looked at all of them on the floor, some trying to get back up. “All right, you lot, listen up! I accuse you of looting, trespassing on another’s property without their permission, as well as breaking and entering, threatening violence in a time of chaos, and disturbing the peace. You could have really hurt someone with your kitchen appliances! How do you plead?”
“Guilty,” their voices all called out. They looked at one another, not sure where that answer had come from.
“Very well, then I will punish you with community service in this time of need. You will put back this store how it was exactly and repair any damage. You will have to tip everyone who you buy items from ten percent for the next two years. If they do not accept it, then you will have to give that money to a charity of your choosing.”
Anthony cast his binding and collars appeared on them all. “Now, you three will report to a fella called Jun.”
***
“What are you doing?” a legionnaire asked as Tommie rooted around in the campfire.
“Ah!” Tommie nearly jumped out of his skin as he looked at the legionnaire and his five friends with him, all holding onto their weapons.
“I’m sorry—I am getting the charcoal and the animal fat from the fire!”
“What do you need that for, gnome?”
“Well, if I put them together, then I can use it to make a kind of soap.” Tommie looked at his feet awkwardly.
“What do you need soap for?” The legionnaire’s eyes thinned.
“Well, for the people in Skalafell—see if I can make soap and then toss it over the wall. Then my friend can get the soap into the people’s hands and then they can use that and the masks that I make to try to stop the plague from spreading.”
“You really mean to send it to the people in Skalafell?” the legionnaire asked.
“Yes.” Tommie felt like an idiot underneath the gazes of these massive beast men.
“All right.” The legionnaire retracted his gaze and looked to one of his men. “Stone Cut, you go and get some of the legionnaires to collect the charcoal and the animal fat together. Gnome, how do we make it into soap?”
“Well, it won’t be real soap, but if you mix water, charcoal, and animal fat together, then it will at least make a soap-like substance,” Tommie said.
“All right, Jorah, you get some boys to help to make the soap. Gnome, you teach him and he’ll look after it. Now, you said something about masks?”
“Yeah, like cloth to put over your face so that it is harder for people to get infected. I was also going to make a water system that allows one to filter the water—would need to have some cloth and then a lot of the charcoal that has been burned, then rocks and sand,” Tommie said.
“Conway, go to the stores and see if we have any cloth we’re not using. Rinzen, get a party together—go and see if you can round up some people to get gravel and sand from the river. Anything else?”
“Uh, no,” Tommie said.
“Good.” The legionnaire looked to the others. “Move it, and get others to help. The next legion leaves in a day. They can sleep when they march.”
The group with him moved off at a run.
“I’m Centurion Raul. Tell me how to make these different systems and I can teach my people,” Raul said.
“Yes, but why?”
“Why teach me?” Raul asked in a dangerous voice.
“No, why are you helping me?” Tommie asked, not sure where he got the confidence to ask that question.
“Those are my people in Skalafell. I might not be a citizen of the city, but I spent my free time there quite a bit and we swore in the legion to protect our people. I have orders that I can’t go into the city, to make sure that no one comes out. Instead of helping them, we’re keeping them caged up. I understand why—we’re in a state of war—but I still want to do something. If your friend is inside, I hope that he can get these resources to the people who need it. I don’t care if he is making some money on the side, but if he takes too much and doesn’t get this out to the people, then I will get into that city and cut him down,” the centurion said.
Tommie couldn’t help but laugh. The centurion looked at him, cocking his head to the side.
“Don’t worry, Centurion. He’s the last person to charge anyone money. I don’t think he has a copper to his name and he wants to help out is all.”
Centurion Raul took a measure of Tommie before he walked forward. “I hope he is as you say. Now, how do we make these contraptions of yours?”
***
“And he just jumped up the wall into the city?” Jaclu asked Tysien.
“Yes, Camp Leader. I am looking for permission to follow him into the city. There is no knowing what he is doing in there.” Tysien saluted as a messenger ran into the camp leader’s room with a report.
“Speak,” Jaclu said.
“Centurion Raul has mobilized some of the legion to gather charcoal, unused cloth, animal fat, sand, and gravel to assist a gnome,” the messenger said.
“For what purpose?”
“He is looking to make materials that will aid the people inside Skalafell. The gnome is using the materials to make masks, soap, and water filtration items.”
“Interesting. Do we
have a report on the elf?” She looked to one of her aides.
They flipped open a notebook. “She headed into the trader camps that are opposite Skalafell with the gnome. They met up with some of the people from the caravan that they were with. She stayed with them and the gnome returned to raid the fires around the main camp. It looked like they were gathering food and creating food packages to send into the city. She is still in the trader camp currently and coordinating with them.”
“Here are my suggestions.” Jaclu looked around the room. Her orders stopped her from being able to do anything to help the people in the city, even if she wanted to do everything in her power to help them.
“I would want the stores to look at the food that we currently have and look at what we would need to have two months’ worth of food, at a ration and a half per person. Then the excess to be checked for how fresh it is. We don’t want food that would go bad in our storehouses. Also, Centurion Raul has the right idea. The legionnaires have been antsy as of recently. Make sure that they clean up the fires, and dig up some gravel and sand as exercise. At night, it has been chilly so we should get some fires going to keep everyone warm.” Her eyes fell on the people in the room before she pointed at two messengers. “You go to the stores—you go to the traders.” She looked back at the messenger who had come back. “You talk to Centurion Raul and pass on my thoughts; make sure that if he wants to carry out this punishment detail, he will have to command it. Tysien, I will okay your request to go into Skalafell. We need reports on what is happening in there in case there are any issues and to make sure that any donations that are sent in are given to the people who need it.”
“I will not let you down.” Tysien’s heart that had been tight, unable to help the people in Skalafell, released a little bit. She was still wary of Anthony, but he and his people had given her an excuse to go into the city. Just what are they trying to do? With our people looking after the supplies now, there will be no way for them to pass anything secretive to him. They might have been trying to use this as a way to smuggle items in and out of the city. I’ll make sure that they’re not trying to harm the people of Skalafell.
“Everyone go and take a break—get some water. Tysien and I need to catch up on some private matters,” Jaclu said.
The people cleared out of the room quickly and closed the door behind them. Jaclu’s aides stood guard.
Jaclu pulled out a bag and put it on her desk. “These are concoctions that we have in our stores. Take these and use them on the city lord—see if any of them work. If they do, then I can give you the concoctions. It won’t be enough to save them all but it’ll save a lot of them. If none of them do, then we can only keep the quarantine. I have been authorized to use deadly force if people try to break out of the city.”
Tysien took the bag from Jaclu, feeling the weight of the bag as she made sure to secure it to her hip tightly.
“This Anthony might actually be doing some good. Don’t let your past experiences cloud your judgement. Who could know that the girl you saved would turn against you and unlock the gates to the camp?” Jaclu said.
Tysien’s body burned in shame and anger, remembering the girl’s smile as she opened the doors, the familiar cavalry of the humans storming into the castle, killing and destroying those around her. She had trusted the little girl, looked after her and felt like a mother to her. But her feelings had been wrong: she had brought in one of the humans’ own, who had used her.
She saw Tysien as nothing more than a pawn, a piece to be played to destroy the beast kin. She had seen the hatred in the little girl’s eyes, her mad laughter as the cavalry charged in with their blades.
“Burn and kill! Destroy them all! Take my hatred, beasts! Taste your own treatment!”
Tysien still had so many questions for her. Why did she lead the attack against us? Just what was wrong with her to take so much joy in killing us all?
She touched her chest, where she had been cut down. Some of the legionnaires made it out and took her with them. Now she stands as one of the Church of Light’s chief judicators—Saintess Letanya, the youngest saintess among the humans.
“Yes, Camp Leader.” Tysien forced the words out.
Jaclu only sighed. “You have your orders.”
Tysien saluted, with Jaclu returning the salute. Tysien opened the doors and headed out into the camp and toward Skalafell.
***
Keze ran into her mother’s arms, still wearing her tattered dress and cloak as she cried in her embrace.
Tissis couldn’t keep up her anger. Her husband was affected by the plague, withering away no matter what treatment they gave him. Seeing Keze, all of her anger reached its limit but her hug stopped her from releasing it.
“I wanted to help Poppa but then when I was going to the healers, there were these men with claws and they wanted me to heal them but I didn’t have the cure but they wouldn’t listen. Then this human, a bad human, came in and slaved them so I was scared and I ran away. He was wearing this armor and he beat them up!”
Keze’s words were distorted but Tissis got enough of an idea.
“Find me this human and the three who attacked my daughter this minute!” she yelled. Her voice carried through the room. Everyone could feel her bloodline’s power surging through her, as if she were bare seconds from putting on her own armor and searching the streets for these people herself as she gave vent to the helplessness and anger within her chest.
People rushed into action and all of the able-bodied guards were ordered out of their homes, leaving their loved ones behind as they scoured through the city, looking for the people who attacked the little miss.
As they went through the streets, their anger at the four people who took them away from their homes changed as they learned about the emergence of the Black Rags.
“What?”
Tissis was in her husband’s office, looking at the guard captain.
“They’re called the Black Rags. They’re going around the city. They use their Black Rags to cover their faces. We thought that they were bandits and looters at first, but they’re checking on the wells, seeing how full they are. Others are going house to house to see what the condition of people is. Some are making more masks to try to stop the spread of disease; others are drawing water up from the well and boiling it to purify the water and deliver it to different families. Those who are sick are being organized into different areas. Large warehouses have been cleared out and turned into medical facilities to try to isolate the plague.”
“Who ordered them to do this?”
“There was a man, a knight, who supposedly told a bunch of them to do this, said that they were paying for their crimes by doing community service. Most of them have these purple chains around their wrists. Though more people are joining them. They answer to a wall that has this strange symbol on it. They go up and put their paper to the wall; there is a change on the wall and the information is added, possibly. Then they go to another part of the wall that says jobs. Either it creates a new job for them, or they’re sent to report to someone to help them out.”
Tissis had an uneasy feeling as the guard captain pulled out a piece of paper.
“This is a drawing of the image.”
She took a look at it. “I have seen this before.” She frowned and pinched the bridge of her nose. She leaned back in her chair. Her brain was just so tired. She was so tired.
She opened her eyes a few times to try to wet them.
She stood and turned around, looking at the painting. It was of a great battle, some unknown enemy and a group of people running into battle. Above it, there was a saying:
“May your judgement be heavy as it weighs the lives and souls of those under you.” She read out the saying as her eyes looked at the top of the painting. There was the same shield, with an all-seeing eye in the middle of it.
I’ve seen this painting a thousand times and glanced at that symbol. She looked down at the image in her hand. Does this m
ean something? It has to. No human has been in this room as long as my husband has ruled. So how would they know to do this? Is this one of the families playing for power? Even if they are to do so, there is no way that they can control the city.
She was filled with more questions than answers.
“Come with me.” She grabbed a scarf out of the drawer and she wrapped it around her face.
The guard captain followed her as she marched through the halls toward her family’s private quarters.
She went through the doors before signaling to the guard captain. “You might want to put on a scarf,” she said.
He pulled out some cloth from his belt and put it around his mouth and nose.
They passed another set of doors. There were guards wearing her family’s crest; all of them wore masks as they stopped and bowed to her as she passed.
She got to a door where there were servants wearing masks, getting fresh cloths, food, and water. She passed them and entered her and her husband’s room.
They walked across the room. Her husband lay down in their bed, covered in sweat. A thick medicinal smell hung in the air as herbs were being burned to try to cover the smell and help him recover.
She grimaced and moved her nose around at the smell as she moved closer to him.
He was covered in sweat and panting. As a member of the wolf clan, it was hard for him to cool down.
She sat next to him. As he felt the weight on the bed, he cracked open an eye. Her chest tightened, seeing how hard it was for him to open his eye. “Don’t overexert yourself.” She put her hand on his chest.
He let out a wet cough and she quickly rolled him on his side. He went on for a few minutes before his breathing calmed down again.
She rolled him back. His eyes, tired and lifeless, looked at her.
“Do you know what this is?” She showed him the symbol.
He looked at it and then coughed, but stopped himself from going into a fit. “Ancestor had it...judgement...be fair.” Talking became harder for him and she stopped him from speaking anymore.
Death Knight Box Set Page 21