As I walked down the hallway I realized the palace had more maids than I had seen. Mostly young ones, so perhaps they are new. They bowed nervously as we passed, avoiding eye contact. One made me turn, but she had already disappeared around the corner.
The knights pushed open the small halls door and Ophelia and I walked to a more calm barbarians than usual. It was not out of respect, or civility, their glares can say that much. They've been away from their homes way longer than they were promised unnecessarily. It's like they are not regarded. Or maybe they thought it a test. That would explain why their numbers didn't reduce. Matter of fact there seems to be more than before, I'm not sure, but those two women are definitely new.
"The proposal is simple," I began. "Elgwood is now a territory of the Dragonhart, a city of Drakoria." I looked around. "If you choose to stay, you'll live under the same laws and privileges as any Drakorian citizen. That means no wars. No infighting that leads to death."
That earned murmurs and curses from the crowd.
"Take a Drakorian life, and you forfeit your own—along with your entire bloodline. Death is the only escape. Those are my terms. If you don't agree, leave now and prepare for war."
"This law include sending our children to fill your army?" one of them asked so crudely that I couldn't tell if he was trying to offend, or just how he talks.
"You and your children are part of my army," I replied. " You just don't have to be here. Each of the tribe maintains their own forces, anything needed will be provided for. Further instructions will come."
"We will not be bred in walls!" another shouted, this one no doubt rudely.
"I'm not asking you to," I said calmly. "Live as you please. It doesn't make Elgwood any less part of Drakoria."
I can see the questions in their eyes, but if they lack the intelligence to say it or the reluctance I couldn't tell, though I was sure it wasn't fear. These people fear nothing.
"And who will rule this city? " this one was calm, and seemed a bit more intelligent than average. Or at least calculated. He was sitting next to the older barbarian who was the first person to talk.
"I rule it" I said simply. "But it'll be managed by a council, with a representative from each tribe. City-wide matters will be decided by vote. In a tie, a head representative—of my choosing—breaks it. More details will come."
More mutterings, some openly rude.
"I know each tribe has its own customs," I continued. "I'll have someone document any specific concessions you request, and I'll decide what can be accommodated. That's all for now."
I turned to leave and someone was moving towards me. I turned to see that it was the two women who I thought were new. They were both a head taller than I was. One was weirdly beautiful, even with broad shoulders and arms knotted with muscle. She was red-haired and wore a metallic gold brassiere-style top with intricate chain detailing, and a matching bottom piece. The ensemble also includes a flowing skirt-like loincloth attached to a gold belt. It was the first barbarian woman I have seen with the charms of a woman.
"It was a gift to my great grandmother" she said good naturedly with a feminine smile. "It's my first time wearing it."
"I didn't think it would be possible to look this good on your kind" I replied, nearly saying barbarian.
She laughed. I like her laugh too.
"I am called me Cria" she said, offering me her arm. She was the first barbarian to offer me a 'handshake'.
I took it and we clutched on for a moment.
"This is my sister, Anika" she introduced her companion. "Our shaman"
She has long, black, partially intricately braided hair adorned with beads. Her skin is richly tanned, and her face is accentuated by striking, sharp features and intense eyes. She has several tattoos with what must be tribal designs covering her arms and shoulders. She was wearing a black tube top and multiple necklaces, one with a prominent round pendant. Her arms are also adorned with leather straps and wristbands, adding to a strong, warrior-like appearance. Two beautiful barbarian women but one seems like she wants me dead. I also notice one of the Barbarian men watching us with keen interest and perhaps hate but I didn't pay much mind to it.
"We are the daughters of the chief you killed" the one called Cria said, still good natured.
"Is that so?" I said, looking from her to the other then back to her. "I don't see the semblance"
And she laughed again, loud and unforced. She made it all seem so natural, like she was actually enjoying it and didn't expect it.
"You are not what I expected, wallborn" she said, "Should we speak somewhere more private to settle things?"
Her barbarian accent was more clear than usual, so she was able to say that without making it sound like a threat. Also I had known none of them were awakened, including the shaman so I was at ease.
"That's fine" I told her and led the way.
The eyes that people of the palace looked at us with tells me that perhaps I already have a reputation in the palace, but it didn't matter. I led the two ladies to my room.
"Do you always bring people into your sleeping quarters to talk?" Cria asked, glancing around, no judgment in her tone.
"Yes," I replied simply. "Especially if there are two of them. My office only have seat for one"
She must have dealt with enough of us to know this was a lie because she laughed casually at that. Not simple minded at all.
"So what did you want to talk about?" I asked, leaning against my desk, facing them.
"At first, I wanted to meet you as our tribe's representative—"
"That implies there's another," I cut in.
"Yes," she smiled. "Family politics. But now, I'd like to convince you to be the ninth representative."
"That would mean your tribe gets to be represented by two people" I questioned. "That destroys the balance I'm trying to create"
"I assure you we don't get along enough for that to be a problem" she said, walking around. She got to the bed and threw her back on it. "We had to take separate paths while coming here so that we don't kill each other. That's how we lived all our lives."
"Noted" I said, "But my stance remains. The only thing I can do for you is to accept you as the representative of your tribe, but that would require me to have a reason to do that"
She rose from the bed, her smile unwavering. "I knew I like you," she said, stepping closer. "What do you want?"
"I want someone I can trust to make sure I am not put in a position where I have to wipe out your people"
Anika visibly tensed—restrained, but unmistakable. Offended. Cria glanced at her, still smiling. The look calmed her, though not easily. Then Cria returned her gaze to me.
"From what I've heard from wallborns that will be hard to do" she said, moving "But if you've got my back, I can make it work."
I looked at her, trying to see if I like her, or just find her interesting.
"We will see how that goes" I finally said.
"Good" she said, now close. "Now that we are friends--do you want to fuck?"
"Cria!"
"What?" She laughed. "I see it in his eyes. And I'm curious."
"No," I said. "Some other time"
She laughed again. "Some other time then."
Then they left.
She inspired a very good temptation. A new one. A wife amongst the Barbarians. An heir would be far more secure than a council. Just as I was thinking about it, I felt that cold sensation of an astral message coming.
┌─────── ♕ ───────┐
The trees closed in, thick and shadowed. The songs of birds had long since fled, and the only sound now was the clatter of hooves and creak of wagons. They had just crossed the river when the deep, guttural scream of battle shattered the stillness. The lead cart smashed apart as something massive barrelled through the trees.
"Protect the wagons!" one of the knights bellowed as the mercenaries braced for yet another battle.
This time it was mostly orcs, but they knew it was only a time before the chaos of the battle attracts the others.
As relatives of the ancestors of the Barbarians, orcs had incredible raw strength, but they are dumb and simple-minded, so it makes for not that much of a tough fight for seasoned warriors. But the problem was--not all the companions were seasoned warriors. One of them met an orc head-on and the orc's swing was a thunderclap, knocking the blade aside and a returned swing cleaved him clean. The orc roared to the night in triumph, but met a knight next, who met him head-on, but with mana charged hands and then a swirl that saw him opening the orc's throat, almost severing the head off, blood spraying the earth.
Brutal chaos erupted on all sides.
An archer loosed a shot from a wagon's edge, his arrow sinking into an orc's throat. It gurgled, clawing at the shaft, then kept coming, slamming into him with a shoulder that sent him sprawling into the mud. He screamed as its foot crushed his hand, bones snapping like twigs. Before it could finish him, a knight was there, his blade a blur, hacking into the orc's knee. The beast roared, toppling, and the knight buried the blade in its skull with a wet crunch, brains splattering under his boots.
Not many of them were lucky to get an intervention from the knights. The air became thick with the stink of blood and piss. Another mercenary went down under two orcs , their crude axes rising and falling, turning him into a red mess. Another, a big man, swung his flail, crushing an orc's arm to pulp, but another leapt on him, teeth sinking into his shoulder. He bellowed, slamming his fist into its face, cartilage popping, but the beast clung on, ripping flesh.
Drustan watched, exhausted, his sword arm trembling. He regretted not crawling under the dwarf's wagon with Jonas, where two knights now stood guard. He had ever faced an orc once before and that needed two others to bring down. Now, he stood over one he'd slain alone, but the victory felt hollow.
The archer, crawling through the mud, fumbled for his knife. An orc loomed over him, its crude mace raised, but Drustan, shoulder a ragged mess, tackled it, both of them rolling into the dirt, fists and blades flashing. He clutched tightly onto the orc, stabbing it frantically with his knife amidsts the numbing blows from the orc. It took forever and every fight in him for the orc to finally go limp, its 500-pound bulk pinning him. Too tired to care, he lay there, death's shadow looming.
Then someone grunted, struggling to roll the carcass off him. Drustan's blurred vision found Jonas leaning over him, the warm rim of vial nudging against his mouth. A few drops fell in, just enough to pull him from the brink.
"Give him this" Drustan heard someone say. "He saved my life, it's the least I can do."
Another vial was fed to him, bigger quantity this time, and he could feel his consciousness and strength coming back.
"We have to keep moving" someone said, probably a knight.
He probably said that because of the goblins. Scavengers who will always be at the after battle scene, and unlike the orcs, they are intelligent and very cunning. A bigger threat, some might say.
"We are still going in?" another asked. "We are 2 days in and I've already gone through six serious battles, and are down to less than half our numbers, without even been close to the depth, yet you want us to continue immediately, after the worst battle so far?"
"We are going," the knight insisted. "you don't have to come with"
"Then I suppose you will be going without us" the other held on.
What followed was an intense silence that felt dangerous from where Drustan was lying. The knights are only 5, it could be dangerous to go in alone, especially since they have to protect the patron too. And for the rest, no doubt mostly injured or tired, all they can do is wait for them here because going back is as dangerous as going in. They all need each other.
"Fine!" the old dwarf bellowed from his carriage. "We camp till morning."
Everybody began to set up camp and plans on look-out, and Drustan simply let himself go.
When he woke up again it was already morning and everybody was getting ready to leave. Jonas was sitting by him, quiet.
"How many did we lose?" Drustan asked, still groggy, squinting at the headache that always follows the heal from a heavy damage.
"Six" Jonas answered, not looking at him.
Drustan cursed under his breath. They came in with 33 people and now they've lost 17. The highest number he has ever lost.
The dwarf's shout and a knight's echo spurred them to move. Drustan, tired, wondered at the knights' subservience. He knows that they are been paid more than the rest of them, but the way they act so subservient made him think that perhaps it is a lot more than he thought.
Jonas helped him up, and the caravan pressed on, tense but quiet. Jonas sketched a map as they walked, noting paths and landmarks.
"You are not seriously thinking of coming back here" Drustan said to him.
"You never can tell" he replied, making a slope as he walked. "Or we can sell the information. If only I could get my hands on the map of the dwarf..."
Drustan said nothing. He wasn't greedy enough to come back here. He was no fool. He knew the only reason they were not in constant battle was because the knights exert [Presence], but even they have to do it in such a balance that they don't attract bigger threats who feel threatened.
"Knowledge is everything." Jonas said, tucking his map away. "The wind mages mapped out a path that lets us get to the stone, without going near the depths. I heard the dwarf paid such a fortune that he nearly lost his mind"
"What is it about the damned rock" Drustan muttered, and Jonas saw no need to respond.
For a long time the only thing they could hear was the sound of the wagons, the path getting cleared ahead, and occasional songs of birds. It took four more days for them to finally reach their destination.
The forest had been torn open— trees snapped, trunks scorched black, and a wide swath of greenery reduced to smoldering ruin. At the heart of the destruction lies a massive crater, nearly 80 feet across, its edges jagged with exposed roots and shattered stone. Steam still rises from the fractured earth.
Half-buried in the crater, a huge rock rests—dark, pitted, and roughly the size of a small house. It made the surroundings warm and smelled funny.
Before Drustan and Jonas could get close, the dwarf had already come out of his carriage and was standing so close to the rock, with arm outstretched, almost in total awe.
"No way he's hauling that," Drustan said, eyeing the stone.
"He doesn't need to," Jonas murmured. "Just enough of it."
Drustan frowned. "Nothing's breaking that."
"It's the dwarves," Jonas said, as if that explained everything.
Before Drustan could reply, movement in the trees caught their eye.
Panic swept through the party—hands to weapons, but soon they saw it was the knights of Drakoria. Seven of them.
They came out on the far side of the crater, facing the group across the wreckage.
"Oswin"
"Igor"
Jonas leaned in. "That's the one the dwarf wrote to—had him hire swords before he arrived" he told him. Word is, he's fiercely loyal. No idea why."
If that's the case then this is a big trouble, was all Drustan could think.
"What are you doing here" the knight on the part of the mercenary demanded.
"King's orders" Oswin replied. "No one takes the rock"
"What in the bloody hells are you blabbering about, you armored piss-wipes!" the dwarf snapped, stepping forward. "We came here first!"
"Drakorian lands, dwarf. You're all invaders," Owen said, voice cold.
Tension crackled. No one wanted to fight Drakorian knights—awakened warriors far beyond normal men—but none would stand for slaughter. Blades stayed sheathed, but hands twitched.
"Fortunately," he added. "The king is only interested in the dwarf."
Relief washed over the mercenaries as the dwarf's protests faded to bluster. They didn't care, they just escaped death.
"Very well" the knight Igor conceded easily, but to the further relief of the rest.
A knight stepped forward and put hands on the dwarf.
"Get your hands off me! " the dwarf shrugged off the grip but followed, cursing.
Some in his group cast looks back as they left. Most sacrificed more than many and it had all been for naught, but they can't do nothing about it because of the gap between an awakened and a normal human. An unfair existence. That made their path, they just don't know it yet.