“Well anyway," Bran dismissively waved his hand through the air, “I have taken the liberty of selecting your squad for you. It will be you, Elia, Kelso, Flox, Dierlok, and Matalo."
Alec groaned and nodded his head. He had never liked Mantan Matalo; he was too crass and obnoxious for his tastes. He did, however, know that Matalo was a good knight and that he could be counted on if needed. He just wasn’t looking forward to hearing him make crude jokes and make fun of everyone for the whole mission.
“I’ll get ahold of them now. Just hang around for a minute." Bran said as he sat back down and fished his communicator out of his pocket.
As Alec turned to head towards his chair, he found that his eyes were drawn to the next chair to the right of his own. In the past Crinnan had sulked in it, ignoring the briefing or sleeping through training. Alec snickered at the thought.
Things had become so different for Alec since the passing of Crinnan. Little, painful reminders tortured him all around the base. He saw the Old Tower and thought of the nights they had spent there when they were young. He saw the training grounds and remembered all the times Crinnan had lost his cool and sucker punched his sparring partners. His childhood friend was dead, and Alec would forever be without the friendship that they shared.
Alec would always remember the old days. He and Crinnan had experienced so much together, from being brought up in the academy to their graduation and time as squires to their advancement into Centurions. Thinking back that had been sixteen years of their lives. Since Crinnan’s death, it was almost as if those sixteen years had never happened. The thought of Crinnan being just a memory terrified him.
Alec could still see the Academy’s training yard. It was nothing more than the dark ground and cavernous ceiling that the rest of Base 21 was, but it had a wooden wall to separate it from the rest of the base. Alec would never forget the place as it was, the place where he found the closest friends he would ever have.
Crinnan was a small, frightened child when Alec first saw him. It had been sixteen years prior, they were only seven years old. He remembered finding Crinnan sitting cross-legged and slouched in the shade of the wooden wall with his chin resting on his hands and his hair in his face. Alec, with the friendly demeanor he was so well known for, thought Crinnan looked lonely so he walked up to him and sat down next to him.
“What are you doing?" Alec asked the boy with a smile. He wanted Crinnan to have fun and be excited like the others, it pained him to see the boy looking so sad, “Everyone else is practicing in the yard."
“Leave me alone," that was all Alec got in return. He did not understand Crinnan's reaction; how could he be so cold? Alec was used to being liked and did not fully know how to respond to the strange behavior.
“Why?" Alec asked the lonely child, “That is not fun."
“I don’t care," Crinnan turned his head away from Alec. Alec opened his mouth to talk but could not find any words. He wanted to get through to Crinnan but did not know how to talk to a sad boy. Finally, he walked over to Crinnan’s side.
“What are you doing?" Alec asked again, forcing himself into Crinnan’s direct line of sight.
“Leave me alone!" Crinnan yelled, lashing out to hit Alec. Alec jumped back and Crinnan swiped at the air.
“You’re not going to make any friends like that!" Alec yelled back at him, “You can’t even hit right!”
“I don’t want to be friends with you!" Crinnan shouted, “That thing on your face is weird!" he was talking about Alec’s visor. Alec reached up and ran his hand over his OEV, he felt hurt by Crinnan’s insult and his blood began to boil.
“Yeah well, you look like a girl!" That was the best he could come up with. It was enough though. Crinnan got to his feet and growled as he charged at Alec. Before they knew it, the two were on the ground, each wrestling to pin the other. Both of them were shouting and slapping, hoping the other would cry first. Alec remembered Crinnan punching him in the chest a couple of times and reaching up to pull off his visor.
“No!" Alec shouted as he scrambled free. He quickly got to his feet and stepped back out of Crinnan’s reach, “Don’t touch that!”
“Why?" Crinnan asked. He had not gotten up from the ground yet and rubbed his chin where Alec had hit him.
“Because without it I can’t see anything," Alec replied. He was upset and tried to fight back his tears.
“Why?" Crinnan asked as he stood up off the ground. He took a few harmless steps toward Alec to look closer at the OEV.
“Because I am blind!" Alec shouted. He had become very distressed and it reflected in his voice, “And if you pull it off then you might break it! These are very expensive and… my dad said he wouldn’t buy me another one if this one breaks!" Alec grabbed each side of his OEV and held it tight, hoping to protect it from Crinnan.
“Sorry then," Crinnan relented as he wiped a smear of blood from his lip. He stood and kicked up a cloud of dust and shoved his hands into his pockets, “You should have told me."
“It’s okay," Alec said, easily forgiving the boy he had just scuffled with, “Just never touch it."
“Okay," Crinnan replied. He walked back over to the shady spot he had previously sat at and plopped back down. Alec watched him for a moment before walking over to join him.
“What?" Crinnan asked without looking up.
Alec knelt down next to him, “I was just thinking that we could still be friends if you want." Getting to his eye level in the same way his father used to do to him. “I do not know anyone here, you probably do not either; we could keep each other company."
“Fine." Crinnan never met his eyes, “Just don’t punch me in the mouth again."
“Okay," Alec said as he sat down in the grass. The two sat for hours lost in thought before either spoke again.
The door shut behind him, thrusting Alec out of his reminiscence. He turned his head to see Elia approach him with a warm smile.
“So you got stuck with me again?" she beamed with a pleased tone.
Alec wrapped his arms around her and the two smiled. “I think we work pretty well together," he motioned for her to take a seat, “I charge into battle and you heal all the bad stuff that happens to me. It works out great!" she laughed and the two sat down.
Ever since Crinnan had died, Alec had seen less and less of Elia. Her form of grieving seemed to be retreating to her own secret place and being left alone. When the opportunity arose for Alec to see her, she hid behind a smile and pretended like nothing was wrong. Alec left it alone; he knew that it would be a fight if he said anything about it.
Alec met Elia around the same time that he met Crinnan. He remembered the two of them were eating lunch in the cafeteria when he spotted her. She stood about four feet tall and had a messy mane of thick brown hair and looked very shy.
“Who’s that?" Alec asked Crinnan with a hint of surprise in his voice. He pointed across the cafeteria but Crinnan did not bother to look up from his tray and shrugged his shoulders.
“Don’t know," he replied with a mouth full of food and an interest level of zero.
“You did not even look!" Alec snorted, annoyed that his bestest best friend wouldn’t pay attention, “She’s pretty. Should I go see if she wants to eat with us?"
“She’s a girl,” Crinnan replied, “My mom told me that girls cause problems."
Alec looked down at his tray and gently grabbed the little square of cake that the lunch lady had put on it. He had looked forward to eating it but he thought it would make the perfect gift for his new potential friend.
“I’m going to go talk to her," he announced as he got up from the table. Crinnan silently nodded his head and continued stuffing his face.
As he walked to the table at the end of the room, Alec wondered what he was going to say. He had never really talked to a girl before but he was not about to leave someone to sit by themselves, that was just not who he was. At his age, he had not yet realized he had such compassionate qualities. He merely tho
ught that he was trying to find friends.
“Hi," Alec said as he stopped in front of the pretty girl. She quickly looked up at him, startled that someone was talking to her.
“H… hello," Elia replied. She immediately tried to straighten out her hair and looked around nervously.
“I thought you would want this," Alec said, handing the cake over to her. It had crumbled in his hand a bit and a small piece of it fell to the floor. She looked down at it with a confused look on her face but forced a smile, if not for Alec’s sake.
“Oh," she said as she poked the cake with a fork, “Thank you." Elia pulled the fork away, and Alec put the ruined cake square down on the tray in front of her as he took a seat across from her.
“So are you scared of this place?" he asked. “I was scared when I first got here but after I started making friends it became a little easier."
“No, I am not scared. I just do not know anybody." She looked around with eyes that darted from table to table a nervous stabbing of her fork seemed to coincide with her eye movement.
“You talk so proper," Alec noticed, “Is your father a lord too?”
Elia shook her head and her gaze returned to her lunch tray, “My daddy died. But he used to be a commander when he was alive. I think my mommy sent me here to be rid of me."
“My dad is one too," Alec told her, happy that the two had something in common, “A Commander I mean. I’m… I mean I am from Baluuck.”
“I am from Exgrane," Elia nervously replied, “My mommy says that my daddy died there trying to make it our home. That is where my other sisters are right now,"
“Do you have any brothers?”
“No," Elia sighed heavily, it was obviously a sore subject, “That is why I was sent here. My big brother was killed and so my mommy sent me here."
Alec did not know what to say as he had never experienced death before. After a brief pause, he attempted to reassure her, “It will be okay, I am not your brother but I will be your friend. Crinnan back there will be your friend too." Alec turned around in his chair and pointed at the long-haired recluse at the table behind them, “See him? He is the one who kind of looks like a girl. He does not smile much and he whines a lot but he is a good friend.".
“My friends?" Elia looked back down at her food. The only friends she had ever had were her sisters back in Exgrane and she was not used to playing with boys. She knew she did not want to be rude though so she reluctantly nodded her head.
“Then you should come sit with us." Alec smiled and grabbed her hand as the two stood, “Follow me."
The door opened and a couple more knights walked in. Alec turned his head to see a dark-haired Elf named Van Dierlok and a blonde-haired Faire named Oscar Kelso approach him.
“Flinn,” Kelso put his hands-on Alec’s shoulders and began to massage, “Where in Duraan are you taking us?”
“Take a seat, Kelso," Bran commanded, “You’ll be briefed when the others get here."
“Yes, sir." Kelso rounded the table and took a seat at his spot. It was on the side of the table to the right of where Alec and Elia were sitting.
Oscar Kelso and Van Dierlok were among the last recruits of Century squad that had earned their place based on merit rather than training. Before Alec arrived, they were the rookies; Kelso and a few others had made it a point to make things difficult for the new guys. Alec had been a good sport about it all and took the criticism and jokes at his expense smoothly. Crinnan, on the other hand, ended up punching Kelso in the jaw one evening and quickly got his ass beat by Mantan and Ryban. It was not uncommon behavior for him to escalate things like that.
The final two knights in Alec’s team showed up and took their seats shortly after Kelso and Dierlok. Their names were Stevill Flox and Mantan Matalo. Stevill was one of Century Squad’s two sharpshooters; he was a silent Elf who did not give anyone a chance to get to know him. He wasn’t like Crinnan in the fact that he had a bad attitude; he simply kept to himself and rarely spoke.
Matalo was one of Kelso's good friends and the squad’s demolition expert. He was a crude, chubby half-blood elf who laughed at virtually everything and bullied everyone around him. He was in general not pleasant to be around, though he was a very good soldier and excelled in the destruction of anything that got in his way.
“Glad to see everyone," Bran declared as Matalo took his seat, “I’ll get straight to the details of the mission as I’m expecting y’all to get going immediately." Matalo groaned and Bran shot him a look, “Got somethin’ better to do?" he asked him.
“No sir," Matalo enthusiastically replied, “Just ain’t gonna have time to fuck my wife before I go, that’s all. Hell, I won’t even have time to fuck Kelso’s mom."
“Probably best that you do not reproduce," Bran jabbed. Everyone laughed except Flox who silently slouched in his chair, “Anyway, you were all selected here to retrieve Crinnan and Jeph’s replacements."
Alec did not like that word; it caused him to stir in his seat. In his mind, he did not see anything replacing Crinnan.
“Crinnan’s replacement, a young half-blood Elf of nineteen years also happens to be his little brother," Bran continued. “Jeph’s replacement is a Vampre named Jymantius Thyms. They are currently at Base 11 in Kamlot. Now many of you may have recently heard about the Marauder attacks in the wastes between here and Kamlot. Apparently, they’re getting organized under someone they call their king."
Matalo looked at Kelso and gave a kind of sarcastic “big deal” expression.
Bran continued, “They’ve been shootin’ our birds outta the skies so we’re gonna stay on the safe side and have y’all take a train the whole way. You will board south of here at Empyr Station and travel to Canrom City. From there you will take the train west to Kamlot. You will get off in the town of Temple where our contact will meet with you and escort you to Base 11. Y’all will be traveling in civilian clothes and I've got your identification Cards and back stories here just in case any of you are questioned or stopped. Are there any questions?”
“No weapons?" Matalo asked, looking around to see if anyone shared his concern.
“Correct," Bran replied, “This is not a combat mission if the need to protect yourself arises then you will probably fail the mission."
“Who will be our contact in Temple?" Alec asked.
“Sir Dariz Hunt," Bran replied, “He left alone a few days ago and has already reported in."
“Very good,” Alec nodded his head, “Will we be in communication with Century Squad during this mission?”
“You will," Bran nodded, “Emerald will be in contact with you through a communicator that I’ll supply. You’ll report in at every stop and waypoint." Bran looked around at everyone else, “Are there any more questions?" Everyone was silent and Bran nodded his head, “Then you have an hour to prepare. Once you’re dressed and packed meet in the hangar and we’ll get you on your way to Empyr. Dismissed."
Chapter Nine
Crinnan XIII
The First Hell
Crinnan and Ander stepped out of the swirling portal and found themselves standing in the second level of the Hells. The sky was black and unending just like in the previous one but the ground was no longer ablaze. It was gray, dry, cracked and rivers of lava streaked across the landscape. Strange gnarled red leafless trees grew from the ground and twisted toward the sky, weird plants grew from the ground their leaves were black and it looked like they were bleeding. Visibility was dim but Crinnan was still able to see sufficiently.
“The second level," Ander announced as the two stepped through, “I declare, ‘tis been an age since I last stepped foot upon these wretched grounds. Be wary for the plants are alive and their only desire is to rip the flesh from your body,"
“You’ve been here?" Crinnan asked as his eyes moved from the landscape to his companion, “How did you get here last time?”
“We prisoners are on occasion moved from level to level," Ander explained as the two took their first ste
ps in the new land, “It gives the demons, or the players, a sort of revolving challenge and selection. Whilst there are many prisoners who have understandably and apathetically succumbed to the very fact that their fates are sealed, there remains a strong number very much like myself who still try to hide or run."
“What’s the point of that?" The very idea sounded like a waste of time to
Crinnan, “Hiding, running? It seems these demons cannot really be bested. Well, except by me."
“‘Tis the truth," Ander declared, “That is, twas the truth until you came along. I feel you will bring salvation to we who so strongly yearn for it. You, Crinnan, may be the savior we have waited for."
“Who knows?" Crinnan rolled his eyes and stepped forward. That most certainly was not what he was trying to accomplish. While he understood that there were a great deal of people hurting in the Hells, he felt that there was nothing he could do for them. All he wanted was to get himself out of here, "I kind of want to find some armor and boots, to be honest."
“Humble in your own way as well," Ander commented on the fact that Crinnan ignored the idea altogether, “Befitting of a savior."
“Whatever you say," Crinnan dismissed Ander and scanned the area, eager to find the equipment he desired. He was sick of being unprotected; he didn’t want to endure any more hooks like BygDyk’s, “I need to find a demon my size."
Crinnan walked for a moment and Ander followed closely behind. The duo drudged over the crumbled ground speaking minimally, which was exactly how Crinnan preferred it. Crinnan watched as other prisoners scurried about, some were naked like he was, others wore ill-fitting rags. They all wore exhausted expressions with large fear-filled eyes. They looked emaciated and walked keeled over with their hands hugging their stomachs. None looked happy, none except for Ander.
The Black Knight Box Set Page 35
