Hive Knight: A Dark Fantasy LitRPG (Trinity of the Hive Book 1)

by Grayson Sinclair

  As the dire wolf reared back for a second bite, I rammed the tip of my blade through its mouth and out the back of its head.

  It slumped against my sword, and several hundred pounds of dead weight came crashing towards me. I scrambled back and out of the way as it hit the ground.

  That was close.

  Standing up, I checked myself over for wounds and found myself whole and relatively unscathed. The vambrace is still usable, but it took a knock. The thick metal had jagged teeth marks sunk into it, but there weren’t any tears or holes.

  I quickly looted the fur, eyes, and claws from both creatures and left the meat to other scavengers. Two down, three to go.

  Half an hour later, the remaining three were dead, and I was beyond exhausted. I sagged to the ground and fought back the urge to fall asleep where I sat. As I waited for my battle fatigue to lower back to zero, I cleaned the blood off my sword and armor. I’d only taken a few more light nicks and scrapes during the fight.

  When my heart rate cooled, I stood and began the walk back to camp, cursing my bad luck. Five dire wolves and not a single core between them. It’s what I get for not putting any points in Luck. Even with the bonus, without any stats in loot drops, I’m going to lose out.

  I took off my armor and let the heat of the fire dry the pouring sweat from my chest and neck. Eris had set up her tent separate from mine and was already in bed. She peeked her head out when I returned.

  “I’m glad you’re all right,” she said and went back in.

  Guess she’s still pissed. I ate some bread and drank some water but was too tired to eat more. When my belly wasn’t gurgling anymore, I pulled up my interface to look at the notifications.

  Combat Results

  Five Downed (Dire Wolves): 5000 Exp!

  Total Exp Gain: 5000 Exp!

  Level: 44

  Exp: 4400/4400

  Level up!

  10 stat points available!

  Level: 45

  Exp: 1600/4500

  Well, that’s quite a bit of Exp for just some dire wolves. Last time I fought them, they only gave me four hundred apiece. Odd.

  I added five points to Strength and Constitution, bringing both to eighty, nighty-five with my boost from being close to Eris, but I didn’t want to rely on an outside force to increase my power, not when it could be taken away. As I closed out my Interface, I pulled out my flask of whiskey and a glass along with a small frost stone. Dropping it into the glass, I filled it and waited for the liquid to chill before taking a sip.

  It was perfect.

  The stars were pretty, twinkling high above my head, and I wasn’t quite ready to sleep, so I stargazed while I drank.

  Eventually, I turned in and fell asleep, only to be woken by Eris when she crept into my tent sometime later.

  With a mumbled, “I couldn’t sleep,” she lay down beside me and wrapped her arm around my chest and was asleep almost instantly.

  Chapter 14 - Inn of Ill Repute

  After a few fitful hours of sleep, I awoke to the sounds of the forest. The same thing that’d kept me up, snapping me out of sleep with every crack of wood or howling beast, now unleashed a chorus of songbirds to chase the last vestiges of sleep from me.

  I sat up and found that Eris wasn’t asleep beside me. The wind rustled the flap to the tent, bringing the scent of roasting meat and carrying the sizzle of grease in a pan. I pulled on my linen trousers and a clean gray shirt and exited the tent.

  Leaving, I found a very picturesque scene waiting. Eris, wearing one of my tunics, too large on her petite frame, was cooking a modest breakfast over the fire, humming to herself as she worked.

  I sat by the opening to the tent and watched her for a time. She hadn’t noticed me, and it was charming to see her be herself. I knew how she behaved around me wasn’t an act, but she was too focused on me at times.

  I wanted to see her when she was alone. She was unbearably adorable as she worked, bobbing back and forth, humming along to an unfamiliar song while she cooked. I couldn’t help but smile at her natural energy. After a couple more minutes of cooking, it seemed the meal was done. She turned to call out to me.

  “Sam, breakfast,” she said, turning and seeing me watching her. Her mouth broke into a smile when she noticed. “Ah, good morning. How long have you been there?”

  The familiar hurt rose at hearing my old name. “I wish you wouldn’t call me that.”

  She smiled sadly and nodded. “I know, but it’s your name. Duran is just a mask, a false name to hide behind. Its not who you are.”

  Eris wasn’t wrong, but it was still hard to hear. “Duran is the name I chose. Sam is the name I left behind too many years ago.”

  She left the food alone and came to sit beside me. “I understand, and if it’s truly what you want, I won’t call you it again, but I think you should give Sampson Acre another chance, my bonded.”

  I didn’t want to, too many things came with the name, but I couldn’t find a defense beyond I just didn’t want to hear it again, and that wasn’t good enough.

  “If it makes you happy, then I guess it doesn’t matter. Call me whatever you like. Maybe it’ll make up for the fact I hurt your feelings last night.”

  The smile fell from her face for a second. “About that, I’m sorry for overreacting. I know you were just protecting me.”

  “I was, still, I’m sorry for upsetting you,” I said, kissing her gently. “What’s for breakfast?” I asked when we pulled apart.

  “A bit of bacon, with half a loaf of bread.”

  It smelled delicious, and after the inadequate food last night, I was ravenous.

  “Let’s eat.”

  “I’m beyond starving,” Eris agreed and handed me a plate before grabbing her own.

  My rumbling stomach was only too happy to indulge. We sat side by side as we ate, never going too long without brushing up against one another. We couldn’t help but find the littlest of excuses to touch each other. I wiped a smidge of grease from the corner of Eris’s mouth, and her response was to stick my whole finger in her mouth and lick it clean.

  After we ate breakfast, Eris helped me pack up the camp and get Lacuna situated. As I was stowing our supplies in my inventory, I had a thought and pulled out a small pouch of fifty gold and tossed it to Eris.

  “Here, catch.”

  She was busy petting Lacuna and didn’t hear me, but I’d already thrown it, and it was sailing towards her head.

  “Eris!”

  Without turning, she plucked the pouch out of the air a second before it hit her. She stopped playing with Lacuna and stared at the bag. “What’s this?”

  “Money, in case there’s anything you want to buy when we get into town.”

  “That’s sweet of you,” she said and tossed the money back at me. “But I don’t need it.”

  “Why not?”

  “I don’t see the need for it. The Hive never used it. We bartered and sold favors for things we needed. I don’t know what use I’d have for it.”

  “Very well,“ I said, stowing it back in my inventory. “But it’s yours if you want it. Times have changed, and we use money for things we want. You’ll need some when we get to the capital.”

  I’ll see if I can’t spoil her a bit when we get there. She definitely needs her own clothes.

  Speaking of spoiling. I put the gold away and pulled out a brush for Lacuna and proceeded to spend the next hour or so brushing her coat while praising what a good girl she'd been.

  Lacuna was a smart horse, and I believed she could understand at least the meaning behind my words, if not the words themselves. Her eyes were bright and happy as I brushed her down. Once her coat and mane had been brushed thoroughly. We climbed into the saddle and continued onward through the forest.

  A few hours in the saddle and we started passing signs of rural civilization. The rough dirt road we’d been traveling on became smoother as we reached an area with a lot of foot traffic. A few other travelers, merchants, and ad
venturers kept cropping up—some on horseback like us and others in large wagons with armed escorts.

  Wealthy merchants always hired guards to protect their cargo on trips like these. Bandits and highwaymen were commonplace on these backroads, and I had Eris cover her face with her hood. While I doubted anyone would recognize what she was, Eris still was exotic enough to stand out easily. I didn’t want anyone looking too closely at her, so she kept her hood up whenever other people were nearby.

  As the day passed by, there were even more signs of activity. Albeit not the kind I was hoping.

  We passed several splintered wrecks of wagons that had been looted. Not an uncommon sight, but what was unusual were the bodies. Most of them were human, simple merchants who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. But there were also a couple of demi-humans in the mix. Rabbitmen? What are they doing so far from the Pale Everlands?

  They were unmistakably rabbitmen. Their long, gray ears gave them away. Both were male, with lean, functional muscle and bloodied cotton tunics. Multiple stab wounds and lacerations covered them from several different weapons along with four or five large holes that had punctured their chests. Some type of curved blade did that, but what kind of weapon made those holes?

  Eris tugged on my shirt. Her eyes wide with concern. “We need to stop and help them; they might be alive.”

  I ignored her, and sped Lacuna to a full gallop, racing as fast as I could away from there. Eris looked shocked at me—and more than that, hurt—that I would so callously abandon people in need. I had to explain things quickly to get her to calm down.

  “It was more than likely a trap.”

  She cocked her head to the side. “What do you mean?”

  “That's a common trap used by bandits: rob a caravan, butcher the merchants, and lie in wait for a good Samaritan to pass by and try to help. Then rob and murder them. Rinse and repeat.”

  She was quiet for a few minutes, absorbing what I’d told her. “Did you ever do anything like that?” she asked, barely more than a whisper.

  Ah, guess I shouldn’t be surprised she saw that part of my life. I let out a breath through my nose and nodded. “Yeah, quite a few times, but it wasn’t my clan’s go-to,” I said.

  “Why?”

  “It’s not good business. The bandit empress didn’t like us drawing so much attention to ourselves; butchering merchants was a good way to bring the wrath of the Merchants Guild down on top of us. So we usually stuck to less bloodthirsty methods, but we didn’t let the opportunity slip by if it presented itself.”

  She wasn’t happy with my answer, but I wasn’t going to feel bad about my past. I’d done some truly awful things to innocents, but that was behind me. I’d put my bandit ways to bed a long time ago.

  “I wasn’t in a good place after Lonny…after I died, and I took my anger out on a lot of people who didn’t deserve it. It doesn’t make what I did right, but I can’t go back and change what happened.”

  She nodded and gave my fingers a light squeeze. “I know. Even though I witnessed it for myself, I find it hard to reconcile that side of you. You’re a killer, but almost always, you have a good reason for it. But those deaths were for nothing but selfish reasons, and that’s not who you are.”

  She lapsed into silence after that, letting the past weigh heavy in my heart. Damn it all to hell. Life isn’t so black and white, Eris. People have just as much capacity for evil as for good, and I’m no exception. It’s what I tried to tell you before. I’m not a good person. Not anymore.

  Whatever I wanted to say faded into nothingness as the silence stretched on. It seemed she’d said her piece and was content to leave it at that, but there was no absolution; she understood and accepted it, but she couldn’t condone it.

  As we rode, I kept a lookout for more traps or potential ambush sites, but thankfully we didn’t encounter any as we made our way through the many forested trails. Night came quickly, and before I knew it, it was time to make camp.

  We stopped at a graveled trail that led to a small encampment. There was no one else around, but it was a frequent enough stop for travelers that someone had taken the time to set up a semi-permanent campsite.

  There weren’t any tents, but there were plenty of places to set them up and a rough granite circle built for a fire pit. With holes drilled in for cast iron poles to hang a caldron or grate.

  Once I pulled out the camp supplies, Eris set about getting the cookware situated while I handled the tent. Once the tent was set up, I went looking for firewood and grabbed an armload of twigs and small logs.

  The fire pit was cleaned out and ready to go when I came back. I set the logs on the ground next to Eris. “There’s a small stream past the woods a ways. I’m going to go and see if I can’t catch a fish or two,” I said.

  She stood up, brushing the loose dirt from her knees. “I’ll come with you.”

  “No, get the fire ready,” I said, holding up a hand. “I won’t be long.”

  Before she could argue, I set off, walking through the thicket of trees and brush toward the stream. Last I remember, a good spot is just before the stream bends and widens. I reached the spot after ten minutes of walking and looked around for what I needed. C’mon, they always leave them by the tree line—ah, there we go. I found the spears left behind by the last fisherman. It was a tradition to leave a spear for the next person to use since most travelers didn’t carry one with them.

  I took off my armor and boots, stowing them in my inventory, and waded into the water. It was chilling, and the running water was enough that it splashed up to my calves on occasion and riddled me with goosebumps. I endured and waited for a fish to swim by. Minute by minute, I acclimated to the water and waited for the perfect fish.

  Fishing was the excuse I used, but I really just wanted to get away from Eris for a minute. She seemed to be fine with how the conversation ended, but I wanted some time to myself to work out my thoughts. We’d been glued together practically since we met, and only once she shoved my past in my face did I get apprehensive about being around her. Godsdamn it, what am I supposed to do?

  She knew about my past or at least part of it, knew who I was before she chose me, so why now is she getting hung up on what I did a decade ago?

  Or is she?

  She didn’t berate me on my past at all, she just told me she knew, and she didn’t approve. Maybe I’m the one that’s hung up about it.

  Heat and shame crept up towards my face and settled in my cheeks. She’s the first person who’s ever called me on it, and that’s why it’s getting under my skin.

  I wasn’t sorry about my past. I knew it was wrong, and what I did was awful; I felt guilty at getting called out by her, but I wasn’t sorry for the things I’d done.

  Maybe that’s why she brought it up, to force me to confront that side of me?

  Lost in thought, I almost let a large catfish swim by. On reflex, I thrust with my spear, and two of the three points caught the fish. I pulled it up as it flopped around, spraying me in the face with even more cold water before dying.

  I climbed out of the water and pulled the fish free. Setting the spear back where I found it, I headed back to camp, where Eris was sitting, staring at the fire. Her ears twitched as I approached, but she didn’t turn around. Instead she drew her knees to her chest and pulled her arms around her.

  Taking the fish to the fire, I ignored Eris for a moment, taking a roll of cloth from my inventory and proceeding to clean and fillet the catfish. Eris stole a few glances my way while I worked that I caught out of the corner of my eye. And she shuffled over on the ground to watch what I was doing.

  She placed her hand on my bicep as she leaned over to watch my hands. “Do you mind if I watch?” she asked, her voice hesitant.

  It was the first thing she’d said to me in a while, so I nodded. “Of course.”

  Eris kept her hand on my arm throughout the process, and I wasn’t going to say anything that could cause her to remove it.
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  When I’d cleaned the fish, I salted it and sprinkled a bit of lemon pepper seasoning on it and cooked it until it was perfect. After dicing a few potatoes, I sautéed them using the leftover fat and oil from cooking the fish.

  We ate, and when it was finished, we just sat there, letting the tension hang over us. When it reached the point where I’d have relished letting her insects crawl over me again rather than sit in the abhorrent silence for another single second, she finally spoke up.

  “Are you angry with me?” she asked, her voice faltering.

  “No, of course not. I’m just not sure what to say, what I can say, that’ll fix the silence between us.”

  Eris smiled, a tilt of her lips threatening a grin before she crawled over to me. “Then we don’t have to say anything if we don’t want to.”

  She kissed me softly, a single kiss that held our lips together as she rested her forehead against mine. It washed the tension from my shoulders instantly, and I reveled in her touch. She took away my apprehension and replaced it with understanding. She leaned back, her hand on my cheek as she gazed at me with her graphite eyes.

  “I knew the kind of man you were from the moment we met. I’ve seen for myself some of the lives you’ve taken without remorse, and I accepted you anyway. I accepted that part of you, because I think I can see you better that you can see yourself. And I want to know the man you’ve hidden away beneath your rage and self-loathing. Even if that man can be rude at times, I know you don’t mean it.” Eris stood up, kissed me on the forehead and took my hand, pulling me up with ease despite my reluctance. “Now, let’s get to bed. We have a long day ahead of us tomorrow.”

  We set out early the next morning, just before the sun rose over the horizon. Eris shook me awake, and we groggily packed up and got on the road. By my guess, we were only a few more days out from the East Kingdom.

  A few hours later, we came to the end of the wilderness. As we broke through the trees, we stumbled across our first real signs of civilization in a few days.

  There was a small town that had cropped up since the last time I’d passed this way. It was nothing more than several large grain farms and a cattle ranch, along with a few shops and a tavern, but after the endless trees and plains over the last few days, to my eyes, it was a regular metropolis.